The five-day convention features an exhibition of props and costumes, as well as a Jedi "training academy" and a race involving R2D2 robots.

Fans hoping to look like Princess Leia can take belly dancing lessons to recreate the style perfected by actress Carrie Fisher, who was famously chained to slug-like giant Jabba the Hutt in the third film, Return of the Jedi.

Many fans arrived in costume, dressed as a range of characters both from the original trilogy and from the three modern films released in recent years.

The original films - Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi - were released in 1977, 1980 and 1983.

Sixteen years later George Lucas revived the franchise, with "prequels" The Phantom Menace (1999), Attack of the Clones (2002) and Revenge of the Sith (2005) telling the story leading up to the original film.